Iraqi forces kill 20, detain 35 Jund al-Samma militia in Basra

( dpa ) - At least 20 elements of the Jund al-Samaa militant group were killed and 35 detained, in armed clashes with Iraqi security forces in the southern city of Basra, media reports said Saturday.

The independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) said Iraqi forces on Friday killed and detained 55 militants during clashes with the Jund al-Samaa, a religious armed group that aims at taking power over the city of Najaf, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad.

Security forces destroyed the group's meeting point in al-Zahraa district in central Basra.

Intense clashes with the security forces arose on Friday during the religious celebrations of Ashura festival, in which Shiite Muslims walk in a pilgrimage to a shrine held to be the tomb of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Mohammed, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala in 680.